canary

“Who knew that rich white men would be the canary in the coal mine of American capitalism?”

Comics have long been on the front lines of democracy, the canary in the cat’s mouth, Looney Tunes style, when it comes to free speech being swallowed by regressive politics.

He added vultures were like the "canary in the coal mine".

“It’s a canary in the coal mine,” said Brad Ryan, a professional services veterinarian at Antech Diagnostics, a company that offers testing and other services to vets.

"It's a bit like the canary in the coal mine - the sorts of quite extraordinary changes we've seen over the last few years really do indicate an ecosystem under flux," he added.